Night Dive Twitch Streams

[66473933141c9icemann]

That was my initial reaction as well if you look back several pages. I was like "you cannot be serious to expect us to watch a 2 hour 15 minute video. Then I watched a few and got over it.

What we need is more streams by the other staff though. Daniel and Stephen do great jobs on theirs, but we almost don't see anything beyond that. I will say that Stephen's streams give some insight into the inner workings of games companies (or in ND's case, a games company that primarily acquires old IP's and re-releases their games). In that respect those bits of info are interesting.

Daniel's streams tend to go more into his view point on things, games, life etc.

I've always had that passion for games development and love reading up on games companies, so that's probably why I enjoy all of that stuff. It's just that much of all the info given out in the streams is to a level I've not seen elsewhere. Even id Software and Blizzard at their prime never allowed people in to this kind of level of depth.

I think most games companies would fear more for outside companies to swoop in and buy them out, or to take advantage of their amount of info given to copy what they do.

[6647393314c5eunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 07.16.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95sMNQ-KZ28

[6647393315287icemann]

Jonathan Holmes - 27.07.18

* Work on level design for level 2 (Research), over Daniel's finished blockout for it.
* Show cases the imported SS1 original textures (with PBR added) in use in the level.
* Look of level will change after the release of the alpha in September.
* Some changes to light placement compared to the original.
* The cyborg conversion station looks good.
* "Table Strain" as Jonathan calls it, has been implemented. So now when you mouse over a texture, it will tell you what it is + give you a text prompt when you try to "use it". Some give slightly amusing text responses, if you try and use them a few times. This is all based off how you could click on various elements in the original game and be given text descriptions.
* Some nice animated textures, with light properties added that was not present in their original SS1 incarnations.
* Shows a few rooms both in the original game and in the remake, to show the difference. Isotope room looks great.
* He then moves onto laying of textures and lighting in areas, not yet textured. 0:12:09. Nice for something new to be covered in these streams. Also does some re-alignment texture work. Very similar to how it's done in Dromed.
* Door placement as well. Though not functional at this stage.
* Some awesome music in the background of this stream. Very Satelite Reign-ish. Synth heavy. Me likey likey. Join if your reading this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GW6sLrK40k is one of the tracks. You'll love it based off what you've been linking in the other thread.
* Discovers some incorrect textures placed on the ceiling in the original SS1. 0:16:00. Someone left a rug texture on the ceiling.
* Some detailing of how SS1 did it's lighting via vertex lighting. And was the only game (that Jonathan knows of) that did lighting this way. The remake will go with dynamic lighting.
* ND is going with a "When it's done" approach to this remake. So nothing will be rushed. The game will only be released when everyone is 100% satisfied with everything, and everything has been fully implemented.    - Good to hear
* Discussion and showing of how many of the textures in SS1 don't line up with each other if you really take the time to look at them.
* There is the strong likelihood that on beating the remake a game mode with the original SS1 textures with PBR used will be unlocked.
* Funny little clash occurs when Jonathan wanted to talk about texturing of this remake, and Karlee wanting to talk about her cats. 0:56:00. Not hostile at all, but I noticed it. See if you can :p. First time that's happened in one of these streams. Happens a couple of times around that time point I referenced.    - Personally I'd prefer hearing about the texturing of this remake than cats. No offence to Karlee.
* Jonathan talks about how starting out working on mods for existing games is a great way to learn games dev related work that can get you hired in the games industry much later on down the line. Jonathan started out making map packs for Command and Conquer.
* Jonathan's favorite game to work on - Working on the environments for this remake. Working on this has been his dream.
* Discussion on how ND is open and free with info on where things are at with these streams (much like I mentioned in my post earlier), and of how this sort of thing is unheard of. Most companies require strict NDA things with any giving of information.
* The release date of 2020 set in stone - No. Just a ball park date.
* Currently players can't run up sloped surfaces
* Show casing of the current look of Maintenance level - 1:37:00. Not to different to when Daniel showed it, besides some extra textures now being in + item pickups. Some of the areas Jonathan has made some subtle changes to in his words "draw some inspirations from Engineering in System Shock 2 with the lighting and look". He even plays some SS2 engineering music to go with it at 1:39:00. That's very awesome, as much as I want them to remember that this is SS1 not SS2.
* I'll note that Jonathan's passion for System Shock comes across quite strong in this stream. His excitement to be working on the project is quite evident.

[6647393315516icemann]

Stephen - 28.08.018

(Man there's been a lot of streams lately)

* The first couple of minutes of this stream got muted by Twitch over copyright claims on the music used (Command and Conquer music).
* More virus mutant work
* Lots of bug reports coming in for Forsaken which ND released recently. Games been quite popular and selling significant amounts. Lots of Youtube reviews popping up.
* Some nice music from Forsaken playing in the background after a few minutes in. I've not played the game so the music is new to me. Sounds quite good. Very 90s. I love 90s game music. Has a very different sound to music done in games nowadays.
* Asked - "Could you release the greyboxed lvls with the updated textures and updated objects and stuff as a classic edition of system shock before the remaster comes out" - There are plans for a mode like this in the finished game (as mentioned in Jonathan's earlier stream).
* How much of a horror tone will be in the remake - Things are planned to be changed A LOT from the Unity demo which had a strong horror tone and different music, to more in line with the originals sound.
* Karlee leaves not long into the video, after which Stephen is just working on the model for the rest of the video.
* Question by a fan - "As a fan of the original who isn't bothered by the older graphics or ui, why should I be interested in your remake?" - Stephen - Night Dive is going for a fresh experience, in the hopes of giving players that same feeling they had when they played the original for the first time. And if that is achieved and experienced by players, then they (Night Dive) has succeeded in their goal.
* A lot of variety by enemy type - Yes, though each will have a distinct type. Some cosmetic differences.
* About 3/4 through the video Stephen discovers a heap of issues with the model, so it will likely need to be redone.
* Lots of long silences after Karlee leaves. A video best left running while you do something else.
* ND will be employing an extra character artist to work on creating the 3D models for the enemies later on down the line. Likely after the alpha release to help speed things up on that front.

[6647393315829sgupta]

Back from being away - resuming streams where I left off.  Give me a little bit to get caught up!  (I'm sure icemann covered most of this.  I'm not checking for redundancies, but if anything, this'll just be alternate takes of the same streams.)

07/23/18 Dev Stream with Daniel (Karlee sitting in; Stephen joins about 40 minutes in).

* More work on Medical include D'Arcy's office

* He considered adding a secret passthrough wall in the same location as a hallway in the System Shock 2's Citadel recreation  during the SHODAN reveal.  However, this wasn't possible due to level geometry.  Some talk about making a broken door somewhere or something an easter egg of some kind.

* One of the reasons blockout is necessary despite what Chris is doing is to discuss areas to improve/expand etc. One example was the expanded area with view of the station in the Unity demo.

* This is the last level for blockout.  After that, he might replace some annotations with rudimentary assets.  (IE. grenades he'll put placeholder boxes with a ring in them).

* When asked about the CGI cutscenes and whether they'd leave them as they are or remake them, they said that was too much of a spoiler (so sounds like they might have a plan for this?).

* Will System Shock have HDR?  They don't know, but Daniel thinks it's quite involved.  Answers range from they don't know to most likely.  =oP

* They're trying to get a game called Azrael's Tear to work okay and they have the rights to release it, but it's weird in DOSbox and they're having some speed issues.  No source code to do anything but a straight re-release.

* If they could have the source code for any game, a few they'd love are Blood and No One Lives Forever 2.

* There is a game coming that might be based on souce (not sure yet), but they can't say what it is yet.

* This is currently being built in Unreal 4.19 - possibly moving to 4.20 soon.

* Daniel estimates medical is about 60% done.

* Subscribing and supporting their Twitch channel goes supports dev streams and lets them know people are interested.  Also, it buys them sandwiches.  =oP

[6647393315a69icemann]

Daniel - 31.07.18

* More blockout work on Medical.
* Daniel and Stephen present in stream. Karlee joins later on.
* Only minor annotations made since the previous stream
* Will the source port still be coming out by the end of August - Likely no.
* VR support is very likely coming in the source port, as well as localization for most common languages.
* 2 weeks from now, the entire System Shock team will sit down for a play through stream of the original game, but only play through specific bits of the game. Discussion of what needs to be done in regards to the remake.
* Daniel estimates that 50% of Medical is done / left to do.
* Has ND considered acquiring any of the "Learning Company's" games - No
* The level editor appears to be acting up a bit at one point. I recall Stephen's 3D modelling program acting up as well in the previous stream. Must be a ghost in the machine.
* How will gun shooting be handled in the remake. Will it be more SS2 based - Shooting hasn't been discussed yet, but everything should be done as it was in the Unity demo.
* Comment that NOS should sponsor the streams, as Karlee talks about that drink in every single stream. Often complaining if it's been more than a few hours since her last one. Karlee's two main topics throughout all of these streams - 1) NOS, 2) Her cats.
* Will there be a color blind mode - Unsure. A goal possibly after the initial release.
* Will there be changes to AI in the remake - Yes
* Will you be able to make the same insane jumps in SSR as in SS1 - Hopefully
* Are there any new enemies in the remake - Not telling
* Who will be able to play the adventure alpha - Unknown at this stage. Will be a small amount of people who sign NDA's. Later more people will invited in and be allowed to share stuff.
* By the time of the beta test all backers should be allowed in
* By the end of stream Daniel has up to the radioactive trench done, with about half of the first trench area done.

[664739331756bsgupta]

07.26.18 Dev Stream w/ Jonathan Holmes (Karlee Present Also)

* This was a surprise Jonathan Holmes stream, but very fun to watch!

* He's working on Level 2 (Research), texturing the greybox done by Daniel.

* These are placeholder textures for Adventure Alpha, not the final textures.  Jonathan took it on himself to do this, adding PBR (for reflections) and lighting to the original game's textures and applying them to the level.  They actually look really great.  His goal is to take what was in the original and apply it to the greybox and make it look even better.

* One of the reasons this is useful, besides making the alpha much more interesting for those who get to play with it, is that it helps him visualize the levels much better, which will be useful in working on the final look/textures.  It's just much more useful to see how things actually look and work from there than a grey empty slab.

* He's able to apply a lot of effects not possible in the original.  One example is the blue lines near the top of the Research wall panels.  Those are supposed to be lights, but at the time of System Shock 1, there was no real way to add lighting effects to them.  His version has them (along with other things like shiny logos, etc.)

* He's already rigged certain lighting effects, like flickering for ceiling lights.  Similarly, electronic panels emit light.

* Doors are present, but don't work yet - they will before Alpha.

* Some of his newer more finalized assets (like the security doors and terminal pedestals) are used since they're already made.

* System Shock was one of the first games to use dynamic (vertex-based) lighting.  You could switch on and off lights and lighting could change throughout the level.  This was not done much before.

* The original game had a ton of little imperfections throughout.  Text on similar assets that was different, textures that didn't quite match up, etc.  Most of these weren't too noticeable while playing, but he's really noticing them now that he's going through the levels with a fine-tooth comb.  One of the things that bugged him most in the original was the audio logs not matching the text version.

* He's adding more particle effects and glow to radioactive areas.

* Radioactive areas will also affect your implants/visual augments and cause effects like distortion.

* He's got the lighting effects for repulsor lifts present.

* Jonathan works with 3 monitors and needs that many to work effectively.

* There has been talk of turning the original textures into a game mode, which I know a lot of people have requested.  Perhaps if you beat the game or something. 

* He can't wait to start working on the new textures and aesthetic with Robb Waters.  He thinks it's super cool to be remaking a vision based on that artist's work decades ago and with that artist onboard now.

* He is making a few changes as he builds out the levels.  For example, he changed a titanium ceiling to silver as he felt it looks better now with the fancy room. 

* Jonathan is a perfectionist and really passionate about his project - he's always loved this game, so it's a dream come true to work on the remake with Robb Waters.

* Someone asked if they had to pay for the font on the walls of Research.  Jonathan thinks they already did, but Steve would have to answer that.

* Jonathan likes 3D Studio Max as his preferred 3D modeling tool (with Quixel Suite as the texturer, software he's involved in making), though he says 3D modelers all have very adamant opinions about the right tool to use.

* Asked if release date could be earlier than 2020, they don't want to say as of yet.  It's always best not to give out firm dates in case they run into issues, etc., as there's still a lot to do.  (Personally, I'd much rather they take their time and do it right.)  There's also a lot that goes into finishing a game after the major stuff is done.  So they might be able to give a more specific estimated release date later, but not yet and until they're pretty sure.

* Jonathan really loves the open development and community involvement of this project as opposed to others.

* End of the video is a runthrough of what's done so far on Research including regen area, elevator, crate, various doors, power station, etc.
 
* Then a runthrough of Maintenance, which is aimed at being darker and more ominous than the original.  Some of the corridors are purposefully reminiscent of System Shock 2.

[664739331787csgupta]

07.26.18 Dev Stream w/ Stephen Kick (Karlee Present for Some)

* Work retopologizing the Virus Mutant, which is basically making it more efficient and look good in the resolution you're shooting for in-game.

* Asked about the older textures tweaked by Jonathan being released as a Classic release before the main game, Stephen said it'd have to be part of the main release as there's a lot of systems underneath.  There's a lot of support for that though, and they'd like to do it.

* ZBrush has some auto-topologizing tools. 

* Stephen has to relearn some stuff as far as enemy modeling becuase a lot has changed since the last time he worked in it heavily.

* A lot of work on fixing an ear.

* Asked about why someone who likes System Shock 1 as is would be interested in the remake, he says it's what you loved about it and more and to look at the dev streams.  They're creating the game to give the experience people remember and live up to the memories, whereas the old engine just might not give you that magic because of the dated technology.

* Asked about enemy variety, he said there will be a lot of it, as well as weapon variety and different ammo types (ie. dart gun not working against metallic enemies).  They're also planning to have clothing ripped in different places for different enemies so they don't look like the same crew members.

* This had a lot more topology work than talking, and a lot of that as Stephen points out is tedious and aggravating, but they were able to fix a few problem areas.  Still a lot to do, and it might require redoing the model.

[66473933179d7icemann]

After watching so many of these streams I find myself getting more annoyed by how much of the stream time is spent talking about cats and NOS. Less that more remake talk thanks.

In Jonathan's stream in particular it was an issue (which I could tell he got a bit annoyed about as well). Am I the only one?

[6647393317b8fSynaesthesia]

Haha, no, I wasn't annoyed by Karlee. I was annoyed that I kept talking over her.

[6647393317c9eicemann]

Ah that's what it was . I take that back then.

Love your passion and enthusiasm in your videos. Your videos have an energy to them, compared to the others which I like, as it feels like your a kid whose been let to run free in a toy store. As an indie game developer myself, that's something I can relate to.

[6647393317de9sgupta]

I don't mind the banter.  Of course I love the more informative dev streams, particularly Jonathan's and Daniel's when they get technical, but I don't mind the casual talk either.  Most of these people are living and breathing SSHOCK development at the moment, so it makes sense they need to unwind and talk about other things as well.  I think that's where the stream variety comes in with some being more dev-focused than others.  But then I tend to like casual streams.  I've seen streams start out casual and become more corporate as time went on, and for me, it stopped being as fun.  But, opinion's bound to vary on this one. 

[6647393317f14icemann]

I see them as:

Daniel's - Discussion on - Level design (both of the remake and the originals), life as a level designer, talk on games in general, some cyberpunk related discussion on occasion
Stephen - Discussion on - 3D modelling, the inner workings of games companies, how ND is going, what games their working on, what games they've acquired or like to acquire
Jonathan - Discussion on - 3D modelling, texturing, textures, the inner workings of SS1, random stuff on his life, details on his passion for System Shock.

[6647393318301sgupta]

07.30.18 - Dev Stream w/ Daniel (No Karlee at first; Stephen joins 20 minutes in; Karlee a bit after 30 minutes)

* More Medical greybox

* Shows a bit of Research like Jonathan showed.

* Most new stuff is prop-related and not ready to be shown yet, but work's being done.

* Source port won't be out this month as originally hoped but is coming soon - hopefully by the middle of August.  (Patches seem to be coming fairly regularly for the beta tho').

* One of the reasons they decided to delay the source port is room to breathe, but another is localization in different languages.  They also have some plans for extra features down the road.  One of these is VR (proper Oculus Rift and HTC Vive type support)!  Probably not the old headsets that supported the original System Shock as there is no driver support now (which apparently was a thing, though I imagine it was...an experience at the time).  =oP

* The entire System Shock team plans to sit down and play through the game together to talk about design, look for areas to improve, plan environmental storytelling, look for missed interactables, etc.

* Daniel estimates Medical is about halfway done.

* They were asked if there are any builds with gunplay yet, if there was aiming down the sights, etc.  Not yet.  He said it will behave a lot like it worked in the Unity demo.  They don't think there will be sight aiming at this time.

* Asked if there will be a color-blind mode to change things like text colors, Stephen said no promises at launch.  They'd like it to be a goal to include it at some point, though.

* They are now using the Blaze-It! version of Unreal (4.20).  Updates to the engine are pretty easy, though it can get complicated if there are a lot of 3rd party plugins, etc.

* Will there be adjustments to AI in the remake?  Yes, it'll be all new.  They'll also chase you more.

* It sounds like they still plan to let you knock out cameras and CPU nodes to access certain areas.  (This is implied by discussion, though not outright said.)

* Medical is currently 739 boxes in size.  System Engineering is the biggest and 1,546 boxes.  Research is 1,290 boxes.

* Q: Will there be big jumps like the original?  A: Hopefully, and they love that there are roller skates in the game.

* Q: How many polygons are they shooting for characters?  A: 8,000-10,000 with possibly double that for huge enemies like Cortex Reavers.  Weapon models might also be highers. 

* Q: Why so low on the poly count?  It's a respectable number, and they don't need a super high number given the retro art style they're going for. 

* Q: Any new original enemies?  A: (Couldn't quite hear as a few people were talking at once, but I got the impression no answer at this time.)

* Q: Who will have access to Adventure Alpha?  A: They're still discussing.  At first, it's going to be extremely limited and require a Non-Disclosure-Agreement to participate.  They may open it up a bit (both number and NDA) as it goes forward, and once it hits Closed Beta, the majority of backers will have access.

[6647393318429sgupta]

07.31.18 had a Forsaken Remastered Launch Day stream.  The beginning has a brief interview with James (who worked on development), and it's gameplay after that (Stephen playing with Karlee present).  Worth checking out if you're interested in that game, but since it's not Shock-related, I won't detail it here.  Pretty interesting tho'!

[6647393318521icemann]

Was that game Unreal engine? Has that kinda look to it with the lighting, textures and music. Very Unreal-ish.

[664739331862csgupta]

I think the new version (talking about Forsaken) is based on Kex (which I think is in-house?).  Dunno what the original is based on.  I want to say it was prior to Unreal Engine, but I'm honestly not certain.

[6647393318991sgupta]

08.06.18 - Dev Stream w/ Daniel & Karlee

* More Medical Greybox

* Off-stream, he's been doing tons of annotations in preparation for item placement.

* When Medical is done, Daniel will have blocked out all of Citadel minus the Groves - it sounds like they have a different plan for the Groves.

* Daniel estimates he's 80% done with Medical, so probably not this stream, but one one of the next few should finish it.

* Other team members do work with the blockout, just doing other things (ie. Jonathan temporary textures, Chris certain assets, etc.).

* When the whole team goes through System Shock together, they want to do it on-stream so it'll be a live watchable meeting.  This is planned for soon-ish (probably not this week, but within a couple).

* Daniel's brainstorming new possibilities for traps.

* Reiteration that there will be no Cyberspace in Adventure Alpha and also that number playing it initially will be quite small.

* Q: What can you do to optimize Unreal performance?  A: Not Daniel's area of expertise, but they'll be looking at that in the future.

* Q: What causes you to change things in a level - is it mostly just flat walls?  A: Flat walls is the most common reason, but also, they have the technology/ability now.  If something can be made to look better given the space, why not make it that much better.  As an example, a bit later in the stream he points out the computer room on Medical Level being fairly empty with only textures (and even those didn't have blinky lights).  They want to make it even more interesting (and with blinky lights of course).

* Q: Will there be a side by side comparison of the level layouts made available?  A: They hadn't really considered it, but it's possible.

* Q: When is the next KickStarter Update coming?  A: Probably next week, since Stephen is out this week.  That's Karlee's best guess anyways.

* Daniel revises his estimate to 90% done on Medical.

* Daniel would like to try to combine the whole blockout in one level and see if it works.  Karlee thinks his computer will catch fire.

* Q: What is the team most excited about as a whole?  A: Expanding the levels and making them look even better.  They want people to get to an area, recognize it, but be blown away by how much better it looks.

* Q: What's next in development?  For Daniel, he'll be doing pickups, patches found around the station, etc.  Other people are working on art and other stuff.

* Daniel hopes to finish the rest of Medical next Monday and possible some remaining work on Level 9.

[6647393318b10icemann]

My notes for that stream not mentioned by sgupta:

* Since the previous stream some ceilings have been added to the sections recently added.
* Will level transitions work the same way they did in the original - Daniel "Not sure. You'd have to ask the programmers.".
* Comment by a backer that he loves how transparent ND is now with the progress on the game, to which Daniel responds that it took a hard road to get to this point, but they felt that it we deserved this level of transparency.    - Presumably due to the earlier incarnation of this remake and the response they got.

[6647393318c87ZylonBane]

How else could level transitions work? You get in an elevator, press the button, then leave the elevator.

[6647393318d9dicemann]

Well to give a comparison:

SS1 - Click desired floor. Slight delay of about a second and then your at that floor.
SS2 - Click desired floor. Loading screen, then your at that floor.

[6647393318f3fJosiahJack]

Loading happens in SS1 as well.  It's just much faster now.

All one fully loaded level is doable though to eliminate loading at all except at the very beginning.  We should be able to smart load levels nowadays if needed anyway so that it is all in the background.

Kex??  They changed engines again!?!??

[66473933192casgupta]

Kex??  They changed engines again!?!??

This was my bad for not including the reference in my reply (now fixed with an edit) - Kex was in reference to a very brief mention of the Forsaken release.  Forsaken is using Kex I think.  The System Shock remake is indeed still Unreal 4 (and highly, highly unlikely to change).

[664739331950dsgupta]

(Karlee had a stream of Hamtaro before this - fun stream, but not much new in the ways of news.  Steve is out this week, but a KickStarter update is planned for hopefully next week!)

08.09.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* This is the last greybox stream as he's finishing medical today, hence the special stream.

* Pickup and item placement (interactables) will likely begin Monday.  According to Matt, all of those are about ready to be placed. 

* After finishing Medical, he did some final work on the Bridge level.  It's all done!

* He still has to check for holes, finish annotation, and that kind of thing, which he'll do off-stream.

* Adventure Alpha is still on track for September so far.

* Playtesting will involve playing through the blocked out levels and making possible changes to things like ammo supplies, etc.  It'll be a long process, and they're considering broadcasting it; if not, a description will be given in KickStarter updates.

* He made sure not to import anything from fan-made projects, both because he felt it would be cheating and because if anything wasn't right, it would make more work for them than just doing it outright.

* No firm answer about Mod support - question for Steve.

* Before the hiatus, due to some complicated reasons he didn't want to go into, they couldn't be this transparent, and Daniel is very glad they can be now.